A Key For a Key
by elspiffymoo
Summary: For a few milliseconds nothing happened… then Wolfram’s world came tumbling down. There was no noise. There was no shining light. There was no feeling. The world just seemed to end... Yuuram
1. Chapter 1

Years.

It had been 5 years since that wimp of a Maou proposed to him.

It had also been 4 years 3 months 2 weeks and 4 days since Wolfram found out he was in love with said wimp.

But it didn't really matter anyway because Yuuri didn't feel the same way.

Or if he did he never showed it.

At first Wolfram believed the double black merely needed time to adjust to this new world.

That idea faded after he had been there for over a year.

The blonde then believed that Yuuri was secretly in love with someone else in the castle.

Needless to say all hell broke loose and Wolfram became a little bit too possessive.

After that came theory after theory after theory on why his fiancé wouldn't love him but in the end there was only one answer.

And that answer broke the blonde's heart.

The Maou wanted a girl.

Simple as that.

He wanted boobed girl with mood swings and the ability to give birth not a flat chested bossy spoiled prince who would do anything for him.

Of course the prince never expressed his heartbreak with anyone; though, Greta saw through his façade and was at his side when needed.

It still hurt even with his adopted daughter's support and Wolfram continued to always be beside his clueless lover.

His attitude never seemed to change even if his feelings for the double black were locked in a small box never to be expressed.

That box stayed locked for nearly a year until the faithful day that Anissina decided to create the world's first maryoku powered key finder.

Doesn't sound dangerous, right?

Wrong.

Well, no one knew that until the first time it was tested.

***************************************************************

For once the castle wasn't plagued with the sounds of backfiring inventions or the tortured screams of Gwendal, for the inventor was busy working on her newest contraption which she called: The-Finder-Of-All-Locket-Objects-Unlockers-kun a.k.a. the Key Finder.

Upon the announcement of the new invention, people had been arriving in Shin Makoku for months bringing odd looking containers to be opened.

There was even a coffin that someone brought but no one asked any questions.

Every maryoku wielding person in the Blood Pledge Castle was avoiding Anissina in fear of being used as a guinea pig to power this new horror.

Wolfram was one of those hiding and he was currently taking refuge in one of the last places anyone would look to find him: the kitchen.

Surprisingly, to the maids, the blonde had offered to help out with the food preparations for the present guests.

Of course no one was going to argue so there he was knee deep in dough, baking tomorrow's bread.

Oddly it was extremely relaxing to the blonde and he focused all of his energy into the task.

Wolfram had been baking for over 12 hours strait when, unfortunately, a certain noble found him.

Chuckling evilly to herself the woman took out her 'special' whip and wound it around her son ignoring his struggles and cries.

The former Maou then strutted out of the room dragging along her youngest child.

Once they had reached their destination she released Wolfram, opened the door grandly, and shoved him inside; revealing the other previously captured occupants.

There looking trapped were Yuuri, Greta, Gwendal, Günter, Conrart, Murata, and (of course) Anissina who was rather thrilled.

Also occupying the room was a giant machine that looked like a 14th century guillotine armed with a computer and lasers.

Very disturbed, the flour covered prince took refuge behind his daughter in an attempt to not be beheaded and/or physically assaulted by his mother.

Looking astronomically pleased Anissina paraded around babbling on about her new invention.

Naturally the blonde spaced out, ignoring the woman's words; well that was until he saw Murata and Günter being strapped into electric shock chairs.

Now he was curious, poor saps.

Pushing multiple buttons the crazy lady ran around calling out to the crowd gathered on in the courtyard below.

Peering down the prince realized that everyone had their 'boxes' ready.

Maryoku flied wildly in the room as the machine drained it from its two suppliers.

Yuuri yelled that the whole thing was crazy but no one seemed to acknowledge their king's word, all of them being too enthralled by the now humming machine.

Dramatically the woman pulled down the handle.

…

For a few milliseconds nothing happened… then Wolfram's world came tumbling down.

There was no noise.

There was no shining light.

There was no feeling.

The world just seemed to end as the key to the forbidden box, 'Hellfire in Frozen Land', was ripped violently from his body causing him to crumple to the ground;

... dead once more.

* * *

Muahhahahahahahhahahahah~!

I have found that it is exstreamly fun to kill off Wolfram.

I know I'm a horrible person *shrugs* but you'll just have to see what happens in the next chapter!

Thank you for reading and I own nothing...


	2. Chapter 2

Panic.

Yuuri's first response to the activation of the Key Finder was to panic.

No one had listened when he thought it was a bad idea!

I mean he was the King weren't they supposed to listen to him?

Anyways, as the contraption went off the double black realized two things:

One, two important people in the room screamed in pain;

Two, and all the boxes, crates, coffins, etc. in the courtyard burst open.

At their cries he had whipped around to find both Gwendal and Conrad clutching their 'key' body parts in obvious pain.

Instinctively Yuuri ran over to his godfather checking to see if he was alright; but, after seeing the loss of control to his left arm the boy's blood ran cold.

The machine had taken what were the keys to the forbidden boxes from their hosts as well.

Before he could truly help, a heart stopping scream came from his daughter.

Afraid that she was hurt, Yuuri turned towards Greta only to stop; horrified.

She was completely fine, but the reason for her scream was not.

Wolfram… was crumpled on the ground, most likely dead.

The familiarness of this situation sunk in coldly as the Maou watched his 13 year old daughter scream and cry over her 'dead' father's body.

Cecilie, too, soon joined hovering over her son's body, tears streaming, chanting 'not again, not again' over and over.

Yuuri couldn't think or even breathe.

The man that had been his fiancé for the past, what was it, five years was dead… again.

A tight pain bloomed in his chest and for some odd reason he felt like he was going to cry.

Of course he had cared for the blonde but more in a best friend kind of way then a lover.

How was he going to carry on without the prince constantly pushing him harder, trying to make him the best king ever?

Was it possible?

Or was there still a chance to save him?

All Yuuri knew was that Wolfram needed him and as a friend/fiancé he was going to do anything possible to bring him back.

Switching personalities, his power surged and he commanded attention from all.

Taking a breath the Maou spoke,

"Thou must fix this blunder. This travesty cannot be over looked. These fragile bonds shall not be severed. The Alchemist responsible must make amends by renouncing claims to these containers possessions. Have it be done or face my judgment!"

In a rush he returned to normal slightly acknowledging the franticness of Anissina as she attempted to undo her creation.

Feeling his body lean forward Yuuri headed toward the unmoving blonde.

Without a word he removed the former Maou and Greta from the body; lifting it up in his arms, bridal style.

Giving Conrad a small nod the double black left carrying his fiancé to the chamber he had been held in before.

The walk was long and difficult.

For the feeling of a nonliving body against his own was sickening in its own right, not to mention the emotional ties he had toward it.

Since the beginning Wolfram had always seemed to be there, maybe even more than Conrad.

He was always enforcing his personality, ideas, and nicknames on Yuuri; unconsciously changing him while experiencing changes of his own.

Yuuri had known that Wolfram had cried when he had left for earth for the 'final' time, but he had stupidly ignored it.

And when he had returned an unmistakable pull towards the prince almost caused him to tackle the prince.

Even through the blonde's mood swings the demon king had know that he had been merely looking out for him.

Was there love involved in all this commotion?

Yes, there was but the reason was unknown.

Did he love the pushy, obnoxious, tantrum throwing prince?

Very much so.

Had Wolfram never gotten hurt would he have ever realized this?

Probably not since he was such a wimp as Wolfram would say.

Did his Fiancé love him back?

No idea what-so-ever.

Feeling slightly crushed at the emotions he had never been able to express to the blonde, Yuuri entered one of Anissina's laboratories.

As all the others it was cluttered but organized with a girlish feel to it.

Crossing the room grimly the Maou approached a casket looking device.

Nudging the casket open with his foot and turning it on, he set the once breathing blonde on the ground.

Nervously, Yuuri stripped the man of all his clothing.

Tears threatened to spill as his strength started to fail as he laid his angel in the, now gas filled, machine.

He looked like he was sleeping nothing more.

Like he was just going to wake up calling him a wimp and telling him that he shouldn't have worried.

But the bitter truth exposed the flaws in his fantasy.

Wolfram was never going to wake up if he didn't return the keys once more.

Placing a chaste kiss on those frozen lips, Yuuri turned to deal with the chaos.

_Nothing is set in stone… Not if I have anything to say about it._

_Wait for me Wolfram…_


	3. Chapter 3

Thoughts.

Traditionally a dead man isn't supposed to have thoughts but, hey, you never know.

I can prove that thoughts are possible at least during suspended animation.

Since Wolfram was currently experiencing the thing called thinking even if his body was pronounced dead.

But that's just one person's point of view.

Come on, if your heart stops for a long period of time that doesn't mean he's dead… right?

Moving on…

Wolfram was fighting his own demons.

The emotions and feelings that he had bottled up seemed to have escaped into his deep subconscious and taken shapes of their own.

Unarmed the blonde retraced all his pain and love from months past, suffering the entire time.

But there was no one to save him since he was dead.

Of course he didn't know that but in such a deep trance of unlocked feelings one can't help to feel completely abandoned.

Memories rushed passed in a blur exposing every moment to the T.

Every smile from his family.

Every royal.

Every order.

Every whisper from the maids.

Every command to his troops.

Every kill.

Every false lover.

Every flower.

Every human encounter.

Every lustful thought.

Every mistake.

Every triumph.

Every scowl sent his way.

Every sea sickness.

Every missed chance with Yuuri.

Every abandonment.

Every tear.

Everything and anything with a haunting pain.

No one forgiving him for anything, no one believing in him, no one even caring.

Not like it was much of a surprise… but now is it?

Beside aren't you supposed to hate yourself?

Seeing all these times he came to a finale.

Wolfram? Why are you still here? Can you fix anything? Should you even try?

Who are you really?

And for once the blonde couldn't answer.

Besides who really cared…

~~______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________~~

Attempting.

An ax was suddenly in the inventor's hand as she observed her creation.

Slightly amused, Yuuri watched Anissina curious on how she was going to stop it.

It had been 4 days since Gwendal lost his left eye again; Conrad lost his left arm again, Wolfram had lost his heart again, and every locked box in Shin Makoku sprang open.

And the country was getting restless due to the fact that some peoples 'personal' boxes had been opened; and they were unable to shut them.

There had yet to be a breakthrough on how to return the keys.

Not that there was a lack of trying.

Hundreds of experiments, spells, and different types of begging had been used against the machine but there had been no breakthrough seeing as Wolfram was still technically dead and Yuuri swore there were grey streaks in his hair.

No one wanted to (or could, really) give up… there was just too much at stake for their young king.

Greta had locked herself in her room and had yet to emerge.

Gwendal was knitting like a mad man despite his lack of vision.

Conrad was attempting to bring order to the castle's military forces and having a difficult time.

Günter contently scanned the library shelves, looking for an answer.

Cecilie was depressed beyond belief and took to drinking while 'guarding' Wolfram's frozen form.

Anissina was deeply ashamed of her creation and was doing everything in her power to right her wrong.

Murata had last been seen conversing with Shinou.

The rest of the castle was in morning but helped when needed.

As for Yuuri… he was a complete mess, seeing as he hadn't slept in 4 days and had used almost all his Maryoku but no one could stop him.

Where Wolfram was the same unmoving and unbreathing; dead in every way.

If there was a solution to this travesty it was needed fast, for everyone was warring thin.

A thud echoed as Anissina's ax buried it's self in the metal Key Finder.

Another sigh escaped Yuuri, as Anissina went to check on Günter's findings.

Was there any hope for his snow white blonde?

Or was this fairy tale going to end cloaked in black with a coffin leading?

A tear fell.

"Wolfram… please, don't be gone."

Yuuri cried with no one to witness.

For the hope had fled, flying away like the bear bees.

Taking with them a wish unfulfilled.

~~_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________~~

Why.

Glaring at the cocky childish but caring blonde, Murata leaned against one of the forbidden boxes.

They had been discussing the current drama in the castle but as usual Shinou wasn't helping the teen find any answers.

Needless to say he was irritated.

All he wanted was help to revive his best friend's fiancé and all the other keys, of course.

But Shinou kept speaking in riddles and then simply stating riddles;

Which gets old after a while…

Especially since he had been reciting the same type of riddles for the last four thousand years.

Instead of lashing out, like a certain other blonde would do, Murata told and spoke in riddles back.

The only difference was these were new riddles.

"If I were to ask you which door leads to eternity in Heaven, what would you reply?"

"What goes in and out, in and out, in and out, but never moves...?"

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"  
"Why is a Raven like a writing desk?"

_That'll show him that cocky fool._

Getting so caught up in a riddle war, as one might call it, the double black forgot the entire reason he was there.

So there were no answers from either man that night.

Maybe the answer lied somewhere simpler…

Well I hope it does or Wolfram has no chance.

* * *

a little Shinou x Murata for you all.

If anyone has any guesses on the riddle answers I'd be happy to hear them.

Also I would greatly I mean EXTREMELY appreciate ideas on how to save Wolfram cause I'm kinda stuck :/

Thanks again to all those reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Yes!

Good goodness I could kiss Gunter.

I truly could!

Sounds odd right?

But this morning…

It was morning…

I think…

Maybe…

_*****Flashback*****_

Anyway, I had dosed off for the first time in four days when Gunter came running with a stack of books.

Naturally I was annoyed at being awoken but I soon remembered why I was beyond exhausted.

Wolfram was still in trouble.

I had heaved myself out of my chair and stalked my way over to the anxious purple haired man.

For once he barely even registered my presence and went through finding the page he needed.

Slightly annoyed, I had reached down to pick up one of the books when he finally spoke.

"Heika, we have exhausted every possible answer to release the keys from Anissina's machine. I am afraid we are down to a three solutions at most."

A nod had answered in my place.

"The first being the most illogical where we simply dismantle that blasted machine which could or could not solve our problems."

Again I had nodded.

"Secondly Anissina mentioned that at one time she considered putting a reverse feature on her creation but unfortunately she didn't and she cannot modify it. So if we go to find the lost icon of my families land called Gedächtnisse* which is a Maou's portal to reverse the effects of the past. Unfortunately that could take several weeks since the item has been lost since the time of the 9th Maou."

My response had not been needed this time and Günter simply went on.

"As for the last option… I do not believe you will like it…"

A low growl of warning had passed through my lips— uncharacteristically.

Looking slightly scared the man had continued.

"Our very last option is to raid the country of Daskine, a neighboring human one, and force one of their mages to use their Hoseki to counter act the effects of the Maryoku machine. But there are risks with this method… since most of their mages have limited control over that power it is quite possible that they could get the keys released but not the once forbidden ones."

"Meaning?" I had asked suddenly very wary.

"Meaning, Heika, that those who were the host containers would stay the same as they are now… forever."

The blood had rushed out of my face and the very thought of letting that happen was (and forever will be) out of the question.

We will not let any of the other countries suffer for our – no, my mistake.

I shouldn't have Anissina conduct that experiment.

I should have been able to save them all right then.

I should have Wolfram back in my arms already.

I should… I should be able to do a lot of things.

My unspoken rage and absolute refusal of that idea must have shown for Gunter had bowed deeply and murmured an apology before excusing himself.

As the chamber door closed with a click, I had collapsed to the ground in a fetal position.

I had needed to think.

Just think, nothing more.

If I had just thought more clearly then, this…

No.

I had to find a solution.

Still curled up I had gone over my options.

The third option was an absolute no.

The second would take too long seeing as no knew where that Gedächtnisse has been for centuries.

As for the first there were too many 'ifs'.

But these were my only choices.

My last chances.

Or where they…?

I had sat up by this time and racked my brain for unexplored options.

Had we found anything that like the Gedächtnisse that would help us?

Curious I had stumbled out of the room and ran to the giant doors that lead to the treasury.

Throwing said doors open I had ran down into the room.

All around me had been treasures that the Mazoku royalty had kept in safe keeping since the time of Shinou.

Flitting in and out of the shelves I had looked for the object that had caused me trouble years past.

I don't know how long I had searched for but I had found the small ramen like dish seated on a pillar near a familiar moaning sword.

I had attempted to grab the bowl unseen but that demon of a sword had seen me and got excited; moaning and groaning.

Giving a sigh I had taken Morgif off the wall and placed the scabbard around my waist, hoping that if I had to take him along it might be helpful.

I was wrong.

Once I had gotten the demon mirror down- which I swear is a ramen bowl from earth- I braced myself and had allowed the mirror to take my soul, no all of me, into the past.

The clattering ring of the fallen bowl; the only proof of my journey.

~~_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________~~

A nonexistent but actually there shadow of hand creped out from the shadows.

Since it was just a hand it made no sound of evil pleasure but the black aura around it grew.

Leaping forward it seized its prey.

With it secured, the fingers tapped themselves out of the dark damp room.

Only taking the thing with it, the hand ignored the treasures lining the wall, for it had no need of them.

Its master wanted this object nothing more.

Besides how was the hand to argue?

Slipping and scurrying away the shadow hand balanced a bowl upon its top.

The darkness swallowed it up.

* * *

Yay, suspence. Enter Mr. Hand. Exit Yuuri.

*Gedächtnisse is German for memories so yeah. yay for translators!?*

I'm very very greatful for all of the fabulous reviews I've gotten and I've got some ideas coming up!

Sorry this one took so long. Things have been hectic at home and I really cannot wait for summer break. Damn American economy :[

anyway, Thank you all very much and I hope you all enjoy my story! (which I own really none of)

- Haylz


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